


Confidence Games

by Raaj



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, Neck trauma, Sometimes fights don't go so well, Temporary Character Death, Video Game Mechanics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22547476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: Morgana's played dead a few times, but this is the first time someone's died for real.  After a fight in the Metaverse goes disastrously wrong for Ren, the team needs to both make it right and find the resolve to keep going.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren & Morgana (Persona Series)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 229





	Confidence Games

**Author's Note:**

> this weekend I was supposed to work on a different fic, but I could not focus on it and about 80% of this was already written, and since it's a one-shot I figured WHY NOT and worked on this instead. I think part of the reason it stayed unfinished for so long was because I started thinking "wait, the status is more unconscious than dead, isn't it?", and also because I felt a little bad doing it with Ren when he technically can't even be revived, but again, it was already mostly written. So please suspend disbelief for a few minutes, and I hope you enjoy.

It was a split-second decision gone wrong. They'd just been wrapping up one battle in Kaneshiro's Palace when another security guard rushed down the hallway at them. They could flee or ready themselves for battle--and with so little time to react, Morgana found himself backing up with Makoto before he realized Ren was actually making the opposite call, rushing the guard to try to get the first swing in.

He didn't, just a hair too slow. The guard knocked Ren off-balance with its baton before erupting from the bank facade, security guard outfit splitting to reveal two huge, hulking Oni. As Ren was straightening up, one Oni's blade swung to knock him off his feet, throwing him several feet away--unfortunately, further away from his team, with the huge shadows in between.

Morgana saw Ren duck around the corner after the hit and frowned. He should have called out to let them know what he was doing, but that hit must have rattled him. Or maybe his throat hurt too much to call out? His red glove had been held over it for some reason. At least he had the presence of mind to take cover. Morgana would vanquish this foe quickly and then help Ren recover. With some help from the others, of course. Ryuji was already summoning his Persona with a yell of rage, and Makoto planted herself in her distinct fighting stance.

As the fight progressed, Morgana found himself more and more alarmed that Joker hadn't made an appearance. They were managing, but...Ren never sat out fights. How badly had he been hit that he hadn't gotten back on his feet? But when Morgana and Makoto tried to slip past the Oni, the shadows proved too large and ferocious to manage it, even when Ryuji did his best to draw their focus to him. After each of them gave a try, the two healers agreed that they would have to focus on finishing off the enemy first.

Finally, finally, the battle was over. They needed to leave soon--they were all starting to run on empty. "Hey, Joker," Ryuji wheezed. "You all right there, buddy?"

No response. Morgana's legs windmilled as he rushed to Joker's aid. As he rounded the corner, the first thing his eyes went to was the red on Ren's throat.

...It wasn't his glove.

Ren hadn't called for help because he hadn't been able to.

Most of his body had been hit by the flat of the Oni's blade, but his throat had been caught by the tip in the swing and was slit open in a hideous, gaping slash. Blood had gushed from the wound and stained a large part of the collar and front of his gray vest to dark red. There was dried blood dribbled on his chin from his mouth, too, and Morgana felt his stomach twist. Admittedly, his expertise on the human body wasn't the best because of his amnesia, but...if both arteries and the windpipe in the neck had been cut, Joker must have been silent during the battle not because he was shaken up, but because he'd been drowning in his own blood.

"Guys, don't look," he said. Of course that just made Ryuji come even faster. Why couldn't he ever just listen? "Skull, you don't want to see--"

"Holy fuck--Ren!"

Too late now.

"Mona, heal him! What the hell are you waiting for?!"

"I--I can't--" Ren wasn't moving at all. He was dead. Morgana could cast Dia twelve times over and then twelve times more, but that wouldn't matter. Dia didn't fix dead.

"What do you mean, you can't?!"

"Skull, don't yell at Mona. I still have some energy for Diarama--oh _god_ \--"

Now Makoto had seen, too. She went to Ren, touching his throat where it was still intact as though to find a pulse, but then she backed up violently from his body, covering her mouth with the glove she hadn't just stained with his blood.

Morgana would bet Diarama wouldn't do much for this, either. Ren was...

Ren was... Morgana felt sick. This wasn't supposed to happen. He didn't want anyone dying, but Ren especially...it made Morgana feel empty. There was something sharp and painful scratching at the back of his mind, like Zorro was carving a message into it with his rapier. It felt like failure. This wasn't...supposed to happen...

"This can't be real."

Yusuke's voice pulled Morgana out of his daze just enough to look and see that both he and Lady Ann had caught up with them, drawn no doubt by the noise of both the battle and Ryuji's yelling afterward. Lady Ann didn't say anything, but sank to her knees in front of Ren, tears in her eyes. Morgana averted his eyes in shame. Even if Yusuke's cognition couldn't accept the truth of the matter, still...

If his cognition rejected the truth...? What if...their cognition said there was a way Ren could be revived...?

Morgana thought for only a split-second longer before he bounded forward, frantically patting Joker's trenchcoat down.

"Mona, what the hell--?"

"I'm looking for that medicine from Takemi," Morgana answered Ryuji, still pawing at the coat's pockets. Where was it... None of the other medicines would do, the other Thieves had taken those and knew their effects: helpful, but not a revival drug. "The strongest one. It's powerful enough to wake the dead."

...Of course, that was hyperbole Takemi had used when describing it as a stimulant to aid Ren in "studying for his exams". But whether or not it was an exaggeration in the real world didn't matter. As long as the Thieves believed it would bring Ren back to life, it should... it might...

"Wake the dead? Are you...that can't actually be possible..."

"What, and a flying bank can?!" Morgana demanded, whirling on Makoto. "You might be smart, but you're completely new to this world! I'm the expert here."

This was a confidence game. If he showed any hesitation, if any of the other thieves didn't believe him, this wouldn't work. For the future of the Phantom Thieves, he couldn't give any ground.

For Ren's sake...

Ah! He couldn't help a relieved sigh as he found the right bottle, uncapping it and looking inside to be sure. "This is it!"

"Then hurry up and give it to him!"

"Of course, Panther," he said.

...It was an oral medicine. He pushed it into Joker's mouth, repressing a shudder as his paw brushed against the blood. _Confidence._

"It might take a minute--" Just in case someone's cognition decided coming back from the dead wouldn't be instantaneous, just so no one panicked about a slight delay-- "but it'll do the trick."

And then Morgana waited, and he hoped the group he'd flung his lot in with trusted him enough to believe him. Or were too desperate to not believe him. Or were just stupid enough to be tricked.

Ryuji could definitely be tricked. Yeah, and he wanted Ren alive. Ryuji was loyal. He'd help bring Ren back.

Lady Ann trusted him, didn't she? And she was too caring to accept any of them dying.

Yusuke...he could count on Yusuke, even if he wasn't sure which of the three Yusuke fell under. Maybe a mix.

But Ren didn't move, and Morgana felt a trickle of cold fear. There was too much he didn't know about Makoto. What he did know was that she was reasonably smart and didn't have that much reason to trust him yet. She probably had doubts. Doubts that could leave Ren stuck here as a corpse.

He needed to distract her from those doubts. But how? What would Makoto respond to--what he knew about the newest member was that she was practical and wanted to be useful--

"Queen!" he snapped. "Get Johanna ready! He's not going to come back at full strength, so we've got to help him."

In the corner of his eye, Morgana caught how the order distracted the brunette from the grisly figure, her eyes snapping to him as she nodded. "Right! Johanna!" she cried, tearing off her mask. At the same time, Ren's head jerked up as the medicine finally triggered, restorative energy blossoming around his body. It wrapped around his neck, binding the torn throat back together. Morgana winced as the first sound Ren made was a desperate and wet gasp for breath, quickly followed by a hacking cough. New, fresh blood speckled his lips. Was that the effect of making resurrection seem more realistic in Makoto's eyes, even if it was just by giving the pragmatist the illusion that it wasn't perfect and needed a semblance of planning? Maybe it was Ren's own cognition, the memory that he had, just a few minutes ago, been dying.

Either way, Morgana would make it right. "Zorro!"

Ryuji and Yusuke had both moved to either side of Ren when he'd started coughing. Ryuji's arm, snaked around his back, and Yusuke's hand, placed on his shoulder, held the shaking boy more steady. Johanna charged up and fired off a Diarama spell that was followed by Dia spells from both Zorro and Carmen--of course Lady Ann was quick to come to a wounded comrade's aid. "Joker, you okay?" Ryuji asked. "Anything hurt?" Ren was still coughing and only shook his head. "No, you're not okay...?"

"Wait for him to be able to speak," Yusuke suggested in a mild tone.

"Nothing hurts," Ren rasped. "Just need--a minute--" He went into another coughing fit, but thankfully this one didn't bring up any new blood. Ryuji rubbed his back anxiously until the coughing died down. After a minute, their leader asked in a small, broken voice, "Are we safe?"

"No shadows around," Lady Ann quickly reassured him. "Fox and I didn't see any when we were catching up. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Ren said, a bit breathlessly. His voice was still shaky. "Yeah. Kind of surprised. I thought I was a goner."

There was a short moment of awkward silence. "You...were," Makoto said hesitantly.

" _Queen_ ," Yusuke snapped.

"What?" Ren stared at Makoto, then Yusuke. "Wait, what?"

"This is a cognitive world." Yusuke was quick to start speaking, in an attempt to reassure. "It was only the appearance of death--"

"It sure felt real."

That shut Fox right up. After a few stiff seconds, Yusuke shifted his hand to wrap his arm behind Ren as Ryuji had. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to diminish your pain--"

"No, that's not what I meant--"

Lady Ann shut them both up from their clumsy attempts at apology when she drew closer to Ren and hugged him. She was murmuring too quietly to be heard clearly, but Morgana caught bits of phrases: "thank god", "so glad you're okay". Ryuji quickly followed her lead, squeezing both her and Ren with his arms.

Morgana kind of wanted to join them, but...his arms were so short, and he didn't want to get in Lady Ann's way. He settled for drawing closer and placing a hand on Ren's knee, hoping the gesture of comfort was understood. "You were gone, just for a few minutes. Thankfully, the Metaverse is a place where that can be undone."

"Can't believe you almost forgot we had something to raise the freaking dead," Ryuji muttered without breaking from the hug. Morgana wanted to shoot back that he hadn't actually forgotten, he'd had to invent that they even had such an item, but... now they had an item that the group believed could bring back the dead. Best not to do anything that would make anyone question that faith, just in case they ended up needing it again.

Ren glanced down at Morgana. He was in charge of their inventory; he knew they hadn't had anything like that. The smaller thief quickly aimed at him a look that hopefully told him not to question it, shaking his head slightly. "Go easy on Mona," Ren murmured, reluctantly sliding his eyes back up to Ryuji. "I forgot we had it too."

"Yeah, alright. Not the time," Ryuji mumbled. For a moment there was silence: Lady Ann had fallen quiet, but she was still hugging Ren with her face in the crook of his shoulder, and he was hugging her back with one arm. Yusuke was still holding on, too.

Morgana could feel Makoto standing behind him, her weight shifting back and forth. He wondered if she, like him, wanted to join the hug but wasn't sure how. "Ah, Joker," she started awkwardly. "Are you good to move? W-we should leave. Get you out of here."

"Yeah, sounds good."

Exploration was done. They backtracked to the last safe room as quickly as they could, this time keeping together as a group instead of splitting up into two packs. It was riskier in terms of getting caught, whether by a patrolling shadow or accidentally setting off a security camera, but Ren hadn't told Ann or Yusuke or anyone else to split off. Morgana might have raised the point if he didn't understand the sentiment so well: right now no one wanted to lose sight of the others, especially Joker.

Luckily, they didn't get caught, and were able to leave the Palace without further incident. Back in station square in Shibuya, Morgana jumped to his typical spot in Ren's bag and watched as the others shuffled their feet. Standard procedure was to split up after a day's infiltration. Obviously, no one wanted to do that either.

Ren still wasn't telling anyone to do anything, and Morgana peeked up to take a look at his face. His eyes weren't focused on any of the others; he was faced down the path to Central Street, but he didn't seem to be actually looking at anything in particular.

"You're sure you're fine, Ren?" Makoto asked. She reached out uncertainly, took back her hand, and then reached again to touch his shoulder. "I could accompany you back to Leblanc. Someone should."

Someone always _did_ accompany Ren back home, and Morgana opened his mouth to remind Makoto of that, but... if she was worried he hadn't been healed properly. Could there be issues? If Ren collapsed or fainted somewhere, Morgana wouldn't be able to do more than meow at bystanders.

He hated this cat form. Hated it. And he hated not being sure of how well the revival had worked. Their healing spells should have taken care of anything, but--no one had died before. There was still a lingering uncertainty.

"Big Bang Burger."

The restaurant name was such a non sequitur that everyone stared at Ren in confusion. He looked around at them.

"I'm hungry. Who else?"

"I...suppose I am?" Yusuke volunteered after a delay. "But I don't have money."

"I'll pay for everyone. I just really want to eat something."

"Uh, yeah, sure," Ryuji piped up. "Let's grab some grub?" He'd tried to sound enthusiastic, but it was clear he was hopelessly lost.

Lady Ann nodded, trying to back him up. "If that's what you want to do, Ren, then let's go!"

So they went down Central Street to Big Bang Burger. Before they entered the restaurant, Morgana and his bag were passed to Lady Ann. When they got a booth, Morgana's bag was placed comfortably on the blonde's lap as she and Makoto took the two chairs on one side of tables, while all three other guys squeezed in the booth seating opposite: Yusuke and Ryuji at either end, with Ren in the middle. Morgana peeked over the tabletops. Makoto had opted for a water, while Lady Ann had something that must be served cold with all the condensation on the cup--maybe a milkshake? She'd raved about those once... Ryuji had a hamburger with some lettuce in front of him. Yusuke had a full meal of a cheeseburger with all the toppings, fries, and a drink.

Ren didn't have anything in front of him. "Ren..." Morgana whispered. "You didn't order the _challenge_ , did you?"

"I'm really hungry," Ren offered as an answer.

A huge burger of three layers, each meat patty as wide as a person's waist, was brought out. Morgana ducked down into his bag, but he could still see the monstrosity hovering above the table as the waitress tried to figure out which table to place it on. As well as how to tell them: "Ah, the challenge is meant to be taken as a solo adventure, for our most intrepid space explorers--"

"It's for me," Ren said. "Put it down here." He tapped on an open spot on the table. "And you don't have to time me. I'm not actually doing the challenge."

"But, sir--"

"I gave blood today. Couple liters, actually. Need to get my iron in."

Yusuke burst out laughing in much the same way he had when he'd found out the truth about his teacher, and Ryuji started coughing as Ren gave a dark chuckle. Morgana heard the waitress walk away and could only assume she'd been taken so off guard by Ren's attitude that she was giving up on enforcing the rules of the challenge. He popped his head back out of the bag. Makoto was shielding the side of her face with one hand, looking both embarrassed and horrified.

"That's not funny," Lady Ann told Ren. "That's _awful_."

Ren was still chuckling, but something seemed a little off about it to Morgana. Even as Joker, he didn't usually laugh like that. "Yusuke thinks it's funny."

"It's really not," Yusuke protested, his shoulders still shaking as he got himself under control. "It's not funny at all."

Ryuji swiped the drink that had come with the challenge burger, taking a long sip to clear his throat before he placed it back by Ren. "You two sound like psychos right now. Are you _sure_ you're okay, Ren?"

"Yeah, really, I'm good." And Ren started to tear into the gigantic burger.

The table fell quiet except for a few sounds of eating: Yusuke taking bites of his regular meal, Ren gobbling through the challenge burger, and Lady Ann occasionally taking a long suck of her drink through its straw. After watching Ren work at the challenge burger for a few seconds, Ryuji had wrapped his own half-eaten hamburger back up in its paper wrapper, looking as though he'd been put off his appetite. Morgana would give Ren encouragement on the challenge, but...he wasn't actually doing the challenge. Morgana didn't know if he wanted to encourage whatever Ren _was_ doing.

Ren seemed to calm down after a few minutes at least, his bites becoming more regular, as though he was eating a leisurely meal that _wasn't_ big enough to feed someone for a whole day or two. When he put the burger down, a full quarter of it was gone. He touched his throat with his hand briefly, testing something, before he spoke up.

"So. Schedules." Morgana could see his fellow Thieves' surprised faces as Ren raised the topic. "We could use a break tomorrow, but we should go back before Friday to make steady progress. Are there days anyone can't make?"

"Uh...Wednesday would be tough..." Ann started uncertainly, glancing at Ryuji with alarm.

"We don't have to go," Makoto interrupted. "I can take care of the money. I'll find a way, even if..." Her hands tightened on her lap. "I'll make sure it's taken care of. Please let me take responsibility for this situation. It's my fault you were all dragged into it."

"No."

"Ren." Makoto leaned across the table and dropped her voice. "You could have died. And that could happen again, to any of you--" She rubbed at both her eyes with one hand.

"It did happen. But you know what? I got a second chance." Ren's face was somber now, any hint of his odd humor a few minutes ago gone. "That doesn't happen in the real world. You saw all those ATMs. Some were completely broken."

Morgana could see the conclusion Ren was leading to, and it was the same as he'd thought. The ATMs were how Kaneshiro saw his victims. The man had almost certainly ended lives for his desire to glut himself with more and more money.

"Whatever money you give him would be a waste. I'm taking his treasure."

"Hey." Morgana couldn't let that go, putting his forelegs on the edge of the table to look at Ren more directly. " _We're_ taking his treasure."

"Yeah." Ann nodded. "Don't think for a second you'd go back alone."

Ren gave them both a faint smile. "Thanks. But I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to stop. I... we've always known there was danger, but today was..." He paused for a few seconds, his lips working to find the words as one hand came up to grip the back of his neck. "...A closer call than usual."

That was true. And if Ren himself had wanted to stop their Phantom Thievery...Morgana couldn't say he would have blamed him, even if it would have left everyone in a bind. Not after what had happened. But Morgana didn't think Ren realized what he'd done in being the first to say he'd go back. It'd be hard for anyone else to back out now.

"We'll have to work more cautiously," Yusuke said.

Ryuji bumped Ren with his shoulder. "We got your back."

Makoto drew a shaky breath, still sounding close to tears. Was she feeling guilty for the role she'd played in the start of their infiltration? Morgana thought she deserved it somewhat...but he didn't want her crying.

Lady Ann placed a hand on one of Makoto's. "Giving in isn't the 'safe' option. I tried playing along with Kamoshida's demands, and you know how that ended up. He won't stop at a certain line. He'll just keep taking and taking like the selfish bastard he is. Our best chances are together, Queen."

"...You're right," Makoto said after a pause. "I'm sorry. It's not like me to get so emotional." She cleared her throat. "So... ah, my schedule? This week..."

Morgana glanced around at his fellow Thieves for a moment, then, satisfied, dropped back down into his bag. Scheduling wasn't as big a concern for him; he accompanied Ren everywhere, after all. He just needed to know that the team wasn't going to fall apart. Everyone was a little shaken, that much was apparent, but they were strong. He'd picked good partners.

When they left the restaurant, they still stuck together as a group until they reached the train station. There they finally split apart, as the extra time eating seemed to have convinced everyone Ren wasn't going to suddenly collapse or anything. He did have to promise Makoto he wasn't feeling faint, though.

The train ride back to Yongen-Jaya was quiet. Morgana kept taking peeks up at Ren's face just to make absolutely sure he was okay, but it wasn't a good time for them to talk much. So Morgana filled the silence for himself with a purr. Quietly, though. They were in public, and he didn't want Ren thinking of him as a cat any more than he already did. Purring was only for cats, but it was so relaxing, and today had been tiring and stressful.

It wasn't until they were out of Yongen-Jaya station that they spoke, Ren being the one to start the conversation. "What did you use to revive me?"

Morgana snapped out of the light doze he'd lulled himself into. He blinked a few times, looking up at Ren. "Oh...the same medicine you gave me when I got really hurt and had to fall back those two times."

"You never said that could revive people. Were you that hurt those times, or...?"

Ren sounded confused--well, that was only to be expected. "No, not as bad as you were today. But our medicine works in the Metaverse because we believe in its healing properties. I remembered Doctor Takemi saying that medicine was strong enough to 'wake the dead' and I thought, since it's our strongest one, maybe I could convince everyone it'd do that for real. And it worked."

"So...you tricked them. To bring me back to life."

The smallest thief perked up. "Yeah. Pretty clever, huh?" A thief's trick to escape death: framed that way, what had happened almost sounded cool. Though Morgana still didn't want it to happen ever again.

"...What if they hadn't believed in it?"

That was a line of thought Morgana had hoped Ren wouldn't think on--but of course someone as smart as Ren would, eventually. Maybe he'd already been thinking it. Morgana kneaded the material of his carrying bag anxiously. "But they did believe."

Ren didn't say anything.

"Ren, don't think about it. They did believe, so you're okay--I'm really glad you're okay--and now if anything happens again, we have that--"

The words caught in Morgana's throat when Ren shrugged his bag off his shoulder, lowering it to the ground. "Can you go to Leblanc ahead of me?" the teenager asked. "I want to make a phone call."

Morgana didn't move an inch from the bag, staring up. Why did Ren have to be so hard to read? The only thing his blue eyes could tell for sure was that he wasn't in the mood to be argued with. "Okay," he said, hesitantly stepping out of the bag. "But don't take too long! We both need rest, you especially."

"I'll be right behind you."

"You'd better be." Morgana meant it. He'd track Ren down if he was gone too long.

But after the time spent shimmying open the window to Leblanc's attic with his paws, he was waiting for only a couple minutes before he heard Ren's footsteps coming up the stairs. It was a relief to know he wasn't wandering off somewhere right now, but... "That was a short call."

"...Went to voicemail again."

Oh. So he'd tried to call his parents. ...Morgana wondered, sometimes, if he had parents himself, and if they were good parents. Ren's let him go to voicemail an awful lot, and Lady Ann's weren't around at all but somewhere overseas. Ryuji's mother sounded really nice, and sometimes Morgana wanted to meet her, but Ryuji would probably make fun of him if he made such a childish request. The blond's father had been terrible. Family just seemed to be a complicated issue, and Ren didn't talk about his much even on good days, so Morgana let the subject drop when Ren sat down on the bed without saying anything further. He already seemed down, and tired, too. He was already starting to change his clothes for bed, and it wasn't like him to take this early a bedtime without any fuss.

Though, despite seeming tired, Ren didn't fall asleep right away. Lying by his side, Morgana could feel the tension in his arm and how he kept shifting his position. Could hear how Ren's breathing picked up sometimes, rougher, uneven, before he forced it to calm again.

Morgana hesitated a moment, but then he curled up closer to Ren's side and...he purred. Ren was surprised enough that he held his breath for a few seconds, and Morgana stopped, self-conscious, but then Ren turned on his side, curling around Morgana.

Purring was only for cats. But it was relaxing, and if he had to take this form right now, he might as well use all the tools at his disposal! So he purred again, louder this time. He could do this for Ren. It wasn't like his leader would rat him out to anyone, and Ren needed the comfort to rest, or maybe he just needed the distraction. Either way...as long as it was helping...Morgana was fine with purring. They'd be strong gentlemen thieves the next time they stepped into Kaneshiro's distorted cognition. For tonight though, after what had happened...Morgana's small form continued to rumble even after they'd both fallen asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Random notes:
> 
> * Ryuji would not make fun of Morgana for asking to meet his mom. He'd probably be really confused about it for a few minutes though before realizing that with Morgana's amnesia and...general weirdness, he's kind of like an orphan, and then he'd just be like 'yeah sure I bet she'll love you' and take him to meet Mama Sakamoto. It'd probably be good bonding for them.
> 
> ** I love the idea of Ren and Yusuke being a dark comedy duo where, if they are the only two people laughing, it's pretty much guaranteed that Ren just made a gallows humor joke, Yusuke is laughing more out of shock than 'oh, funny', and the other Thieves are just like 'what the HELL'. ...Akechi might make it a trio at times.
> 
> *** I now have like three different theories for why Ren can't actually be revived in-game that I came up with while brainstorming for this fic, so I guess it was helpful for that.


End file.
